Greg Gray, finalist for Portage superintendency, wasn't among original 23 applicants for the job

PORTAGE, MI -- Greg Gray, head of Brighton Area Schools and the only person being interviewed for the superintendency of Portage Public Schools, was not among the 23 original applicants in Portage, confirmed a consultant involved with the superintendent search.

Gray was recruited after the board reviewed the initial pool of candidates during a closed-door meeting March 26, according to the consultant, Jim Morse, of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates and a
former superintendent with East Grand Rapids Public Schools.

After that meeting, Morse said that he was given Gray's name by a school trustee and told to contact him. Morse obtained Gray's application, interviewed him, and briefed the school board during a closed session on April 10, Morse said.

Morse was questioned about the Gray's candidacy after the Brighton school board president told Mlive/Kalamazoo Gazette that Gray was not job hunting and he was approached about the Portage position.

Gray's addition to the candidate pool also explains why board President Bo Snyder repeatedly referred Monday to 24 candidates, one more than previously reported.

Snyder could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

At Monday's school board meeting, in their first public discussion of the superintendent candidates, trustees said that Gray was the sole candidate they wanted to interview.

Gray will be in Portage today for a series of meetings with staff and community members, culminating in a public interview at 6:30 p.m. at Portage Central High School's community room.

The original candidate pool included people from 11 states, including nine from
Michigan and two each from Indiana and Minnesota, plus individuals from
Ohio, New York, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas and
Maryland.

On Monday, the board quickly reduced the pool to four,
including Gray. Names of the other three candidates were not made public
because they had signed confidentially waivers.

Trustees expressed concerns that two of the others under discussion were from much
smaller districts and the third was an assistant superintendent for a
large district in Kansas who had never overseen an entire district. The six trustees at the meeting were unanimous in saying that Gray was only candidate they want to consider.

Morse said that candidate pools for Michigan superintendencies are especially weak now for numerous reasons.

One is the state's political climate around K-12 education, he said: Superintendents are being asked to substantially improve outcomes in the midst of stagnant funding and increasing budget pressures.

"Usually the first thing that a new superintendent has to do is come in and cut," Morse said. "They have to privatize or get concessions or lay off people. It's a challenge," especially for a new leader trying to build a base of good will and support.

The budget issues also mean "they're probably not going to a raise for the next three years," he said.

Morse said that because of the political climate, superintendents who have a good relationship with their current board and community are reluctant to move to another districts, and assistant superintendents and other school administrators are reluctant to seek promotion in their own districts or elsewhere.

"They figure they're better off staying where they are and not getting involved in all that," Morse said.

Another factor is the state's retirement incentive that led to a wave of superintendent departures in 2010 and 2011. That not only created a brain drain, but allowed others to make a change or move up to do as a multitude of jobs opened up. That group is still settling into their new jobs, greatly diminishing the pool of people ready and willing to apply for superintendencies now.

"When I was hired in East Grand Rapids in 1981, there were more than 100 applicants" for the job, Morse said. "That wasn't unusual then.

"Now the average is 20 to 25, and quite frankly, some of those aren't qualified."